DIY Child Car Seat Poncho

By: Stephanie
On: November 24, 2021

It’s cold out and your child needs to wear a big coat. But safety guidelines say not to wear a big coat while in their car seat. So what do you do? You dress your child in their coat to walk to the car, take it off before they climb into their seat (still in the cold air), and then repeat it all again at your destination. Or you run them to the car without a jacket and hurry to buckle them in while they’re cold.

Either way, they’re cold and you still have to cover them with a coat or a blanket in the car anyway. It’s this exact hassle that drove me to make my kids some car seat ponchos.

The fleece fabric is warm and cozy, and it’s easy for them to pop over their head to not interfere with buckles. They can wear it to and from the car or you can keep it in the car to put on in their car seat. And if they get too warm, they can take it off or move it around.

These ponchos are easy to make and a lifesaver for the winter struggles of keeping your kids warm and also safe. I wanted to pass along this simple guide so you can make your own or pass it along to a friend who might want it!

What You’ll Need

1-yard pattern fleece fabric
1-yard solid fleece fabric
Rib cuffing fabric
Child’s shirt
Thread
Tissue paper
Pins
Sewing machine
Cutting tools

1-YARD PATTERN FLEECE FABRIC
You will need patterned fleece fabric for the top of the poncho. I used exactly 1 yard for my 4 and 3-year-old kids and they were plenty big enough. You can use less if you want to for a smaller child and more for a bigger child.

1-YARD SOLID FLEECE FABRIC
If you want to double layer your poncho (for extra warmth) you’ll need 1 yard of solid sleeve fabric for the under part of the poncho.

RIB CUFFING FABRIC
You’ll need some rib cuffing for the neckline of the poncho.

CHILD’S SHIRT
You’ll need a current shirt of your child’s to measure for the neckline.

THREAD
Grab some colored thread that matches your rib cuffing fabric and/or the fabric. This is for sewing the cuffing to the fabric.

TISSUE PAPER
One piece of tissue paper. This is for ease while sewing the rib cuffing.

PINS
You’ll need fabric pins to hold the fabric in place for sewing.

SEWING MACHINE
For sewing everything together.

CUTTING TOOLS
You’ll need all your preferred items for cutting fabric.
1) A cutting board or table
2) Scissors or a rolling cutter
3) Measuring tools such as a measuring mat, ruler, etc.
4) A fabric pen or pencil to mark the fabric if you use one

Let’s Get Started

STEP #1
Trim the selvage edges off of the pattern fleece fabric. Or cut fabric to 1 yard/the desired length.

STEP #2
Fold pattern fleece fabric in half and use a bowl/round object to trace on the bottom fabric corners. Cut edges along trace lines to round edges.

STEP #3
Keep pattern fleece fabric folded in half with edges lined up. Measure on the folded side and mark the middle of the fabric.

STEP #4
Lay your child’s current shirt on top of the fabric lining up the middle of the neck hole with the middle of the fabric. Trace the neckline of the shirt hole onto the fleece fabric.

STEP #5
Test the fleece neck hole on your child to make sure it’s big enough. Cut it bigger, if needed.

STEP #6
Repeat steps 1-5 with the solid fleece fabric.

STEP #7
Measure around the whole neck hole circle on the fleece fabric.

STEP #8
Cut the rib cuffing to the length of the neck hole you just measured + add a little extra for what your seam allowance is.

STEP #9
Cut the rib cuffing to the height of how tall you want it to be x2. For example, I did 2 inches in height so it would be about 1 inch on the finished product. My rib cuffing was already precut to that length so I left it but normally I would also add a little extra for seam allowance.

STEP #10
Fold the rib cuffing in half longways and pin the opening.

STEP #11
Sew the pinned part of the rib cuffing together.

STEP #12
Fold the rib cuffing in half, height ways, and pin it together.

STEP #13
Sew the rib cuffing together where it’s pinned. The rib cuffing can jam the sewing machine so I sewed the cuffing to a piece of tissue paper. Then pull the tissue paper off after.

STEP #14
Line up the neckline holes of the solid fleece fabric with the pattern fleece fabric on the top right side up.

STEP #15
Mark the middle of the front and back and two sides of the rib cuffing neckline with a pin.

STEP #16
Mark the middles and sides of the neckline holes with pins.

STEP #17
Line up the rib cuffing and fleece fabric pin markers in the same places with edges lining up. The rib cuffing won’t lay flat on the fleece because it’s smaller and supposed to stretch.

STEP #18
Sew the rib cuffing to both pieces of fleece fabric starting at one of the pins. As you sew pull the rib cuffing to stretch so it ends up laying flat between each pin. Do not pull the fleece because it will stretch.

STEP #19
Sew just below the rib cuffing on the fleece fabric including the seam you just sewed into the back of it to help hold it into place.

STEP #20 (OPTIONAL)
Fleece does not need to be hemmed as it doesn’t fray. But you can sew your two pieces of fleece fabric together if you wish. You could also tie them together like with the no-sew fleece blanket. I used what fabric I had at home for our solid pieces so they were slightly smaller than the top pieces. Because of this I left them free and didn’t sew the two pieces together.

And ta-da you have your own child car seat poncho! If you live in a warmer area or don’t want the poncho to be as thick you can simply follow these steps with one layer of fleece fabric instead of two. Have fun with it and keep your little ones safe at the same time! Happy creating!